Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,108

the things I know. And you need to know all the things I know if you want to strike back at them. We can work together,” I said fiercely.

Tatum blew out a laugh like she thought I was insane and maybe I was. But I still meant every word.

“Why?” she asked, cutting to the quick of it. But I wasn’t ready to trust her with that just yet.

“I have my reasons,” I replied.

“Not good enough. I need to know why a teacher cares about the Night Keepers this much?” she demanded with that rich princess tone to her voice which set rage flooding through me.

“Not the Night Keepers. I want Saint Memphis,” I replied. “His family destroyed mine and I intend to return the favour.”

“What did they do?”

“That’s all I have to say on the subject. Do you want my help or not?”

Tatum looked up at me like she was aching to agree, but I could see the refusal growing on her full lips.

“I’ve had time to read over your transfer file since your last lesson with me,” I said, changing tact.

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“I see that you won medals for kickboxing in your previous school. I happen to be a qualified teacher if you want to start up private lessons for extra credit?”

“What’s that got to do with anything we just said?” she asked, a tiny frown crinkling the skin between her brows.

“You come and train with me three times a week starting tomorrow night. When we’re there we can train and swap information on Saint and his band of merry assholes as well as figure out ways for you to hurt them too.” It was probably better that I didn’t mention the fact that I had a similar arrangement going with one of those assholes already. I’d first offered to train Kyan up with the aim to get closer to Saint, but I had to admit that my relationship with that particular Night Keeper had changed since we’d begun. I almost looked upon him as a friend. Alright, not almost, he was a friend, one of the few I could lay claim to and the only one anywhere near here. Not that it would hinder me in my mission to bring the Memphis family to their knees.

Tatum looked up at me for the longest time like she was hoping I might just be the answer to all of her prayers, but there was a hardness creeping into her gaze too. A fierce kind of independence which clawed and screamed at her not to rely on me for this. To deal with it on her own.

“Thank you for helping me hide,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “But I have my own plan to escape this fate and I don’t need your help.”

I tried to ignore the sharp twist in my gut that came with her rejection and as she reached for the door handle, I realised that I wasn’t going to convince her by trapping her here with me. That was exactly what those assholes were doing to her. Caging her in.

“You can call tonight your detention,” I said slowly, accepting her decision. For now. “You don’t have to come back for one. But if you change your mind about the kickboxing lessons by then I’ll be waiting in the martial arts room in the Cypress Gym tomorrow night at seven. Do you know it?”

“Yeah, I know it,” she replied, her jaw tightening with some other secret.

Sometimes I thought that this school had so many skeletons in its closets that we were doomed to be overrun by the walking dead sooner or later.

I moved away from the door, letting her pull it open and frowning as she made a move to leave.

“Oh.” She paused, looking back up at me from beneath her long lashes and for a moment I thought she was going to change her mind. “Can I have my phone?”

“I should keep it,” I replied, ignoring the disappointment that spilled through me. “I’ll give it to you when you come to see me tomorrow otherwise Saint will realise I was lying to cover for you.”

“Tomorrow…right.” She hesitated for another moment and I waited to hear what she was going to say. “Thank you, for listening and giving a shit. It’s nice to know not everyone in this place is a complete asshole.”

I snorted a laugh. I was most certainly a complete asshole, but maybe I was having a day off for once.

“There’s